A Feather on the Breath of Ellulianaen
Page 30
Chapter Eleven
Mynowelechw ÆynHachw Cwig
Halomlyn’s Army
Hálomlyny Tchada
It was past eleven o’clock in the evening when Hinfane finished her work, and she came out to Halomlyn and told him what she had learned.
Hinfane said, “I have much to tell you, gryphon. Last night, I had reason to fear the worst, for a knock came at the door only moments after I returned from speaking with you. I opened the door, and was horrified to see the face of the elf-mage before me. I shouted, ‘It’s Kereth Chufire!’ and almost slammed the door in his face. Indeed, I was about to run inside and shout to everyone in the tavern to get out, however the completely puzzled expression on his face pulled me up short.
“ ‘How do you know me?’ Kereth asked, ‘I go to great lengths to keep my name and identity secret. I have never been here in the far north before, and would not have come, were it not for the fact that I am fleeing my Nomoi enemies. Who are you? Have I met you before?’
“And, so sincere was his demeanour, and so trusting, that I could not doubt that it was the real Kereth. And I looked at his face again – long had I studied the face of the elf. The lines ran differently, the scar was honest and bespoke trials rather than travesty, and there were blemishes on his cheeks that were not there on the face of the elf, who, apart from the scar, had flawless skin. I realised it truly was Kereth Chufire, and so I immediately invited him in, saying, ‘I have quite a story for you, Chufire!’ As he walked in, I quickly told the men who he was, for their faces had turned to panic. And over a pint of mead we told Kereth everything that had transpired from the moment the elf-mage had arrived at my tavern.
“Then Kereth turned to me and said in his rustic Southern accent, which was not quite as broad as the elf-mage had made it out to be, ‘I seen that elf-mage on my journey north, and now I’m misfortunate enough to find that my own face don’t belong to me now! That blasted elf-mage must’ve surely followed me all the way from Aros, or I’m not Kereth Chufire, but I am, so don’t you worry yer heads on that score. That elf-mage used the fact that I am in the north for his own purposes. An’ now I wonder, what other crimes has he done in my name? What other evil? Will my face be known in other places for scurrilous things that evil elf-mage-scoundrel has done, usin’ my face? Aye, a person’s face ought to be his own property, unless of course he be a twin, for then Ellulianaen had a hand in it.’
“And then he shook his head and told me what had happened to him after he left Aros. ‘After I escaped the dungeons of Aros – and only afterwards when I’d had time to dwell on it did I suspect the elves allowed me to escape, for whoever heard of a dungeon cell where the bars were loose? Nay and the way the guards feinted at me – they hardly fought at all – I travelled north by unknown routes and pathways, and kept off the main highways. I reasoned that the best way was to follow the Iothuiolmae river northwards, and keep to the shadows and never travel in the open, for I suspected that after whatever foul purpose it was for which the elves allowed me to escape, my life would be forfeit. So I crossed the Iaruiolae Plains, and went into the forest of Chereth.
“ ‘When I was nary some two hundred leagues northeast of Aros, more than two thirds the way through the forest, headed towards the Aefosgil mountains, I heard the sound of many feet trampling the brush. They was less than a furlong away, so I must’d find meself a place in which to hide. I could see them, and I saw a Chancellor-elf (I knew their uniforms from the time I spent in Aros) and what looked like to be a company of twenty to twenty-four soldiers; for I saw two captains there and a knight of some indeterminate rank. They was marching swiftly through the vegetation at the side of the Aeshirae River, some thirty leagues north of the Ghadelil.
“ ‘I know not how I knew, perhaps by some fey intuition, perhaps because I recognised his foul stench, but I afeared that this elf-mage was the same elf what tortured me in Aros, and I afeared that he might be out there looking for me, so I took several days out of my journey to hide in the forest eating nothing but berries and roots, and little else. But one night in the forest the elf-mage came to the clearing at the edge of the very copse of trees in which I was hiding.
“ ‘An’ there he was. The elf-mage was talkin to Afazel in a strained voice and I shall never forget his words to the end of my days. “Afazel,” he says, “even my own soldiers fear death, for they are but mortal men, but I am an elf and I fear no ending or demise! Yet even so, Afazel,” the elf-mage says, “I shamed you, god of power, for I let those gryphons defeat me in my quest. And as yet I have no answer to my questions concerning mortal men. They can resist us, great one, those of them that do not fear the death of their bodies so much as losing this peculiar thing they call a soul. Where do they keep their souls? It enrages me!” says the elf-mage, “ – I have more life than these humans, life in abundance of years and power; but they possess something I can never share, a secret I can never penetrate!”
“ ‘I was shocked. The elf-mage had travelled deeper into his peculiar obsessions – he had become more insane. The elf-mage cried out, as though he were in terrible pain and said, “This is my puzzle, but in trying to solve it has only enraged me more, for I know that I am shut out from a great secret that I cannot understand. But for trying to understand, I have only become more ignorant. I cannot wyrd the three worlds Afazel, god of the great! I have no talent for non-existence like these puny humans – how can I ever understand what they mean when they say their soul is precious to them? I am weary, and you are cruel, oh Great One. Give me power, Afazel!” he says, “Give me power!” I saw then a dark shadow standing over him, with giant wings like a bat, and I felt fear, real bone-chilling fear. I aint never seen nothin’ else like that before! And I says the benediction of Ellulianaen, for him to send the Mihalaetat to protect the marrow of my bones from this abomination.
“ ‘As soon as the elf-mage had left that there clearing and gone back to his soldiers, I went further in the woods, for I aint never seen an elf-mage lose his mind like that, neither have I ever seen a elf-mage turn into a lunatick before, though I seen many wyrd and terrible things in my time, even though that was the very elf-mage who had tortured me back in the dungeons, for, though his face looked different now, his voice was the same, but he was not yet half so gone in the head as he was now. No doubt about it, he was the same elf-mage who had tortured me in the city of Aros, I know not his name, that elf-mage what damaged my body beyond repair, while asking me to tell him what it is humans find so precious in our short lives! How could I tell him that, if he didn’t know that answer for ‘imself? Aye, he had the same obsession in those days in Aros, but was not so much a lunatick as he had now become!
“ ‘Nonetheless, I girded my sword on and went forth on my journey into the mountains. On my way I found where the elf-mage’s small army had trampled the vegetation at the side of the river, and there were the tell-tale signs of wyrding on the ground. From their tracks I saw that they was travelling southeast, perhaps headed for the great river Iothuiolmae, so they was prob’bly not looking fer me, though there had been a great swiftness in their stride, so I presume they had some pressing business, perhaps in the city of Aros. More than this I cannot tell you.’”
And the widow Hinfane turned to Halomlyn and said, “So, gryphon, that is that. Kereth Chufire is here with me, and the elf-mage that your cub seeks is somewhere to the south. Kereth said nothing of any gryphons, but I questioned him no further as he was very tired. He sleeps now, for he has spent many days travelling with no respite, but you may question him yourself when he awakens. Come, I have something to show you. And bring the pot, if you please.”
And Halomlyn let Hinfane climb up upon his back, and flew into the town bearing the pot in his mighty talons, and he landed on the ground exactly where Hinfane had told him to, beside a large wooden stable. Hinfane opened the gate of the stable and said, “Come inside gryphon, come and see what we have made for you,” and for a moment Halomlyn’s gryphon-lore up
bringing came to the fore and he became afraid it might be a trap, but he looked at Hinfane’s trusting face and realised that they were friends. He could not believe that she would ever set a trap for him.
So he went in and what he beheld amazed him. It was the best approximation humans could make of a comfortable eyrie, with a fireplace large enough for the cooking pot and a bed of straw. All the horses’ stalls had been removed making room for five or six gryphons. Hinfane said, “The men and I made a home for you, should you and your kindred ever return.”
Halomlyn’s feelings were mixed, to say the least, for gryphons are taught from a very young age not to trust the other peoples of the earth. Yet as he looked around at the comforting eyrie, his heart warmed to the widow and the townsfolk, for never before in his life had a non-gryphon shown such kindness to him. He thanked her with all his heart, despite his initial misgivings, lay down upon the soft straw and slept for some hours.